Attendees raise their candles at a candlelight vigil for the victims of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Thursday, Feb. 15, 2018, in Parkland, Fla. An orphaned 19-year-old with a troubled past and his own AR-15 rifle was charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder Thursday morning after being questioned for hours by state and federal authorities following the deadliest school shooting in the U.S. in five years. Wilfredo LeeAP

Attendees raise their candles at a candlelight vigil for the victims of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Thursday, Feb. 15, 2018, in Parkland, Fla. An orphaned 19-year-old with a troubled past and his own AR-15 rifle was charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder Thursday morning after being questioned for hours by state and federal authorities following the deadliest school shooting in the U.S. in five years. Wilfredo LeeAP

Trump safety plan focuses on arming schools staff

The White House said Sunday the federal government will help provide “rigorous firearms training” for qualified volunteer school personnel as part of a package of policy changes he will proposal in the wake of the mass shooting in Parkland, Fla.

President Donald Trump will call on states to pass measures allowing police to remove weapons or prevent gun sales for those who pose a threat. And Trump will ask Congress to pass the bills to increase the amount of records sent to the flawed National Instant Criminal Background Check System and to provide money to improve school security.

“There is no time to waste,” Education Secretary Betsy DeVos told reporters Sunday night. “No student. No family. No teacher and no school should have to live the horror of Parkland or Sandy Hook or Columbine again.”

For the most, though, Trump’s much anticipated school safety program includes few immediate actions by his administration and none that are likely to be opposed by the powerful National Rifle Association. Instead, he is relying on states and Congress to act.

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Trump had several times endorsed increasing the minimum age for buying rifles or perhaps other guns from 18 to 21. Those proposals were not part of the package announced Sunday.

Instead, a new commission chaired by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos will review a dozen issues that could make schools safer, including raising the age to purchase a gun, expanding background checks and entertainment rating systems of violent entertainment.

“The president is determined to get to the root of the various societal issues that lead to violence in our country,” said Andrew Bremberg, director of the Domestic Policy Council. “No stone will be left unturned."

The commission does not have a specific deadline to finish its review, according to a senior administration official. No details were released on who would sit on the commission.

Trump has long criticized prior administrations for creating blue-ribbon commissions to examine issues. “We can't just keep setting up blue ribbon committees with your wife and your wife and your husband, and they meet and they have a meal and they talk,” Trump said just a day earlier at his campaign rally in Moon Township, Pa.

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Speaking at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, President Donald Trump said designating schools as "gun-free zones" puts students in "far more danger." Trump also said House and Senate Democrats have "totally abandoned" DACA. Associated Press

During some of Trump’s earlier comments since the Parkland shooting he appeared to support expanding the number of people buying a gun who are required to undergo a background check, such as at gun show or private sales. But White House spokesman Raj Shah said earlier Sunday that Trump would not the president would not advocate "universal" background checks.

The federal government will also conduct an audit of the FBI tip line after the agency did not follow protocol in how it handled two warnings about alleged Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz who killed 17 people Feb. 14.

The administration will encourage states attorneys general to audit school district compliance with state emergency preparedness activities and help states and localities support public awareness campaign modeled on “See Something, Say Something” to encourage awareness and reporting of suspicious activity.

"In the last few weeks, the president has insisted on one animating principal, to address national school safety,” Bremberg said. “We must act. Not just engage in idle talk. But act in a way that are proven to be successful and will keep our children safe.”

The White House released the package late Sunday after Trump held a series of “listening sessions” students, parents and teachers impacted by the shootings in Parkland, Newtown, Conn., and Columbine, Colo., as well as local and state officials and video game makers searching for policies to keep America’s schools safe. He also met with the powerful National Rifle Association.

The administration’s proposals follows some of the principles signed into law by Florida Gov. Rick Scott last week that would increase new mental health programs for schools and would allow school employees and many teachers to carry handguns if they go through law enforcement training. Student organizers have kept the issue at the forefront of the national conversation

Trump previously signed a memorandum ordering Attorney General Jeff Sessions to craft regulations to ban “bump stocks” and other devices that turn semi-automatic firearms into automatic weapons.

Republicans and Democrats had called for bump stocks to be regulated after it was used by a shooter to kill 58 people at a music festival in Las Vegas in October. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives began reviewing the issue late last year.

No immediate action was taken. Some administration officials said they could not the sale of bump stocks without congressional action.